Bollinger’s B2 Makes Us Want To Go Electric

Planet Earth is an absolutely amazing place. I love its mountains, prairies, deserts, and oceans, and I want to do everything I can to protect them, but I just haven’t been able to get behind electric cars. Don’t get me wrong, I think they’re fantastic for commuting and driving on the highways, and Tesla has worked wonders for their image, but they’re not exactly ideal for overlanding. At least, not yet. But Bollinger Motors based out of Michigan is trying to change that. They’re producing electric four-wheel drives with looks we can really get behind, and designs that might actually make sense for off-road travel in the near future. We liked their B1, which felt like an odd mix between an H1 and a Defender, but it’s their new B2 that has us falling in love. This fully electric truck might be one of the best looking off-road vehicles released this year, and it actually has the capability to back it up.

“The new B2 incorporates everything that we’ve learned in making the B1, and takes it in an exciting new direction,” comments Bollinger Motors Founder Robert Bollinger. “It’s always been the plan to have both the B1 and B2 start off our line-up. Now that we have so much incredible data from testing our B1 prototype, we can put all of that engineering knowledge into our final four-door B1 and B2 vehicles. It’s the pickup I always wanted and something crazy better than what’s available on the market today.”

I’m sure you’re wondering what’s under the hood, but technically it’s just the trunk. That’s because the B2 uses dual electric motors like its predecessor, which are powered by a 120-kWh battery instead of a traditional engine.

No official range has been released, but based on the B1’s maximum distance of 200 miles, we’d guess they’ll push for something close. The truck uses an all-wheel-drive system for off-pavement exploration, hydropneumatic suspension, and in-wheel portal gear hubs, which we just have to say are rad.

Now a truck that can’t haul anything isn’t very useful, so the first thing we did was check the payload. As it turns out, Bollinger did pretty darn well. The B2’s bed is 4’1” wide by 5’9” long, and the internal cab can be opened to haul up to 72 full sheets of 4 x 8-foot plywood. I can’t imagine how they fit that many into the vehicle, but that’s what they say. The rear glass can also open, allowing you to store things out of the roof of the vehicle if needed.

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) comes in at a whopping 10,001 pounds, with a hauling capacity of 5,000 pounds. Try that in your Chevy Volt!

While 200 miles may not be enough to complete most overland journeys, and you won’t be taking this truck around the world without A LOT of solar panels, it’s still a huge step in the right direction. I have no doubt that someday we will all be driving vehicles powered by some sort of alternative energy, and if they look anything like this, you can sign me up.

Check out more details on Bollinger.com here.